Follow
Share

I noticed a new poster with a lot of helpful responses about Medicare worded in such a way that they didn't seem to have been written by a typical person. I private messaged them to ask if they were in fact a person and they didn't reply. I see that they now have a profile that reads:
"I help caregivers and beneficiaries understand Medicare with plain-language education from Medicare.tools. Not a licensed insurance agent or broker — education only. Medicare Tools is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government. "
Note the link to the website, Medicare.tools in the profile. So this poster is indeed not a person but a business, but that is not at all obvious from the postings and is only to be found in their profile.
Reporting to mods for further investigation.
For what it's worth, from what knowledge i have the postings are helpful and accurate as is the website, but I don't like the posting under false premises as though this were a "person."

Find Care & Housing
If we don’t want new answers to old questions dredging them back up, Admins should automatically close those threads after a period of time.
(0)
Report

Their answers may be up to date but the questions they’re answering are old. New questions get buried under a small avalanche of answers the original posters are never going to see.

If they would confine themselves to answering new questions I’d be thrilled but like everything else promotional or AI it’s just clogging up the forum and burying questions from people who ned advice today.
(1)
Report

I agree that the answers seem very helpful and useful (to the best of my knowledge). I just wish the company was upfront that they are a business that's posting--much the way Facebook and other social media do--without having to go to their profile to find out. I do think businesses have to pay to post on a lot of social media, even if they aren't technically advertising. Here, this company is getting the benefit of free exposure to potential users/customers.

I think Aging Care used to have articles and information by experts that you could search by topic but I don't think there are any recent ones. At least the responses by "Medicare Tools" are up to date, are in response to particular specific questions, and could be of general interest to a lot of people. We do have our own individual user "in house experts" who a lot of us have come to respect and who don't represent a business, e.g. Igloo who is very helpful about Medicaid (and Medicare I believe).
(1)
Report

Actually, I think we're fortunate to have someone so educated on the topic to advise us!!! When we get advice to read the Medicare handbook....vs clear and concise answers, which would you prefer??
(0)
Report

JoAnn29, why? Based on what criteria? They didn't promote a website and were giving very reasonable advice.
(1)
Report

I reported the day they showed up.
(0)
Report

Ugh... not a troll or bot! Probably the person hired to manage their social media, marketing or may even be the owner of this enterprise. If the information is accurate and helpful, what's the problem?

My thought is that this enterprise is trying to get in front of APFM because they are B-to-B (business to business) -- not marketing direct to consumers. They are not promoting to us! We're not their target.
(1)
Report

I agree it's not a bot or troll, and if you look at the website there's a founder and other actual people writing articles. But who is scrolling through forum questions and postings and replying? It would be very easy (I think) to set up an AI algorithm to automate checking postings for likely places to respond. Whether the responses themselves are by live humans I'm not sure. It would also be easy (I think) for the company to have it set up for AI to pull the answers from material the company has on its website. The website itself has an AI component as well as articles.

What I don't get is the motivation of the company behind these responses on the aging care forum. They aren't trying to sell anything or to drive traffic to their website because the company and website aren't mentioned anywhere in the answers--I had to go to the profile to see it and not everyone does that. What's their business model? I do see on the website that they are seeking partners: "Are you an insurance agent or Insurance company seeking qualified leads? If you produce or sell medicare policies, we can supercharge your client list. We reach hundreds of thousands of highly engaged Americans interested in medicare issues and finding the right plan for themselves."
(2)
Report

Well, this IS a "person" who's responding with the knowledge behind the company she or he works for. It's not a bot.
(1)
Report

I agree with you, newbiewife. Thank you for investigating and sharing what you learned.
(0)
Report

Newbie, Thank you for doing this. It’s been a while since the forum was infested with trolls. Good to be vigilant!
(0)
Report

Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter